ISSUE 48/DEC2022 - Flipbook - Page 11
Roberta
Annan
On why she is investing in Africa’s Creative Sector
– the “Orange Economy”
Interview by reGina Jane Jere
CEO: Annan Capital Partners FOUNDER: African Fashion Foundation & IFFAC
Roberta Annan is an impact investor of repute, with
a peerless reputation for developing investment
opportunities for African entrepreneurs in the
creative industries. She is the CEO of Annan
Capital Partners, founder of both African Fashion
Foundation (AFF) and the nascent Impact Fund for
African Creatives (IFFAC) — a multi-million-dollar
investment fund supporting Africa’s creative sector.
She is also UNEP Goodwill Ambassador for the
Creative Economy, and a member of the Londonbased Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design
Advisory Council.
In 2012, she founded Roberta Annan Consulting
(now Annan Capital Partners), aimed at bridging
the gap between investors and impact investment
opportunities across Africa. In 2011, she founded
African Fashion Foundation which supports
the creative industries, empowers women and
youth, and brings Africa’s rich culture to the
world. Roberta is now evolving the AFF into other
platforms that cultivate African talents beyond
fashion, facilitated by IFFAC – the investment
vehicle she set up in 2021, to support Africa’s
creative and lifestyle industries. IFFAC is
already backing several initiatives to the tune
of USD$3 million.
But after running the highly respected AFF, Roberta
is now ready to pass the Foundation’s baton on,
as she concentrates on other ventures within the
ACP and IFFAC. In this conversation with our Editor,
she takes us through the journey she has traversed
so far, her trials and triumphs, and her plans for the
next chapter.
IMPACT INVESTOR
It’s mid-November and the mercury in Accra
has hit an uncomfortable 32 degrees Celsius
outside. I sigh with relief as Roberta welcomes
and ushers me into her immaculate minimalist
air conditioned living room where we sit down
beside a table that already has an ice-cold glass
of water and fresh fruit waiting for my pleasure.
Understandably, she is a busy entrepreneur, and
on this day, she is multi-tasking between business
calls, pre-photoshoot fittings, and the schoolrun for her little boy. So we go straight into our
interview, which turns more into a conversation,
as she articulates with passion and easy her
fascinating life story. It is clear to me that from
the very onset of founding the AFF, Roberta has
had a very bold vision and mindset about her
entrepreneurial journey. Her passion for the
African Creative industries and the fashion sector
in particular is palpable. The impact her work
and commitments is having on ventures she is
supporting is also evident. But after more than
10 years at the help of AFF, she is ready to take
her passion to new horizons within the ACP and
IFFAC. How did someone with a background
in science, get into the Creatives Industry and
become one Africa’s most respected Impact
Investors in the sector? She talks us through: ▶
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